Maarten Van Severen

Maarten van Severen
Maarten van Severen (1956-2005) was a son of the famous Belgian painter and art teacher Dan Van Severen and brother of designer Fabian Van Severen. Maarten van Severen studied architecture at the Ghent School of Art. He became successful in 1986 with his first furniture designs, and in 1987 he founded a furniture design workshop. In the 1990s he cooperated with the well-known and influential Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, also in the field of interiors, and taught at renowned universities. Maarten van Severen was considered a consistent outsider of the design scene, as he often decided to go against the trends of the time and thus initially against material success. His career began in 1996 through his collaboration with the Vitra company. His most famous designer piece, the ".03" chair, brought the artist his international breakthrough. It is still produced by the Swiss company and has also found its way into the VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein.

Maarten van Severen - Chair .03 or "less is more".
The simple, straightforward form is the external feature of chair .03, which Maarten van Severen designed in 1998. The inner workings of the chair are sophisticated: The shell of flexible polyurethane moves through the embedded leaf springs, which make the designer chair ergonomic and comfortable at the same time. The .03 adapts to the body when leaning back. The shell with the upholstered effect is cantilevered on a tubular steel frame, whose front legs are offered in aluminum profile, powder-coated or chrome-plated. In addition to the classic colors, the chair is also produced in mint, mango or signal red, so this modern design classic by Maarten van Severen can be almost customized. In the stackable models, up to 10 can be placed on top of each other, and a maximum of 20 chairs fit on the stacking trolley. As a little extra, glides for carpet or felt glides for hard floors are included.

** Image: By Michiel Hendryckx - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10791975